flanaganfandomcom-20200213-history
Tug
Tug is Will's Ranger horse. Described as being a shaggy small gray horse, he is extremely loyal, affectionate and intelligent; Will and Tug are extremely good friends. History Tug first came into the Ranger Corps as a young horse and was given to Will, the two quickly formed a close bond as all Rangers do with their horses and Tug almost always accompanied Will on his adventures. Old Bob was the breeder for the Ranger's horses and Halt stole the horses from the Indians near Skandia, returned them, and gave them to Old Bob. He has appeared in the majority of books throughout the series apart from the Emperor of Nihon-Ja. The Ruins of Gorlan In the first book, Old Bob introduces Tug along with Halt's horse Abelard to Will. He is named after his habit of wrenching people around. At first, Will tries to capture him by grabbing the reins. Will tames the pony by offering him an apple and then grabbing his lead rein. Tug, like all Ranger horses, only allows someone to mount him if they say the code word(s) taught to the horse. Tug's code words are, "Do you mind?". ''Will, oblivious to this, tries to mount the small horse and is bucked off. He is then told the secret to riding Tug. Will rides Tug home with Halt riding Abelard. At a harvest festival, Horace calls Tug an 'ugly dog' and tries to ride him, after saying ''"my grandmother could ride that!". Tug promptly throws the warrior apprentice off after Horace tries to ride him, not knowing the code words. Will makes one last joke, "perhaps you should ask your grandmother to teach you to ride". This starts a fight between the two boys. Later on, Tug saves his master's life by striking at a boar with his hooves before it could charge into Will during the boar hunt. Will later takes it in turn to ride Tug and Gilan's horse Blaze when travelling to get help after the three Rangers and their horses tracked the Kalkara. He rides the two to Redmont before travelling back to Castle Gorlan on Tug with Arald and Sir Rodney to fight the Kalkara. Horace later mentions that ranger horses must be quite something if they can travel all that distance in just one night without stopping to which Will replies jovially "The trick is staying on them" which Horace takes in good spirit. The Burning Bridge In the Burning Bridge Tug is ridden by Will into Celtica . Gilan later tells Will that he should give Horace the code word for Tug in case a situation arises in which Horace needs to use Tug. Horace takes Kicker, Tug and the pack horse to the army after Will and Cassandra are captured at the bridge. Tug is upset to leave his master behind. The Icebound Land Tug is taken with Halt and Horace to Gallica and Skandia and used as a pack horse to carry the goods as Halt and Horace have their own horses with them. The Battle for Skandia In The Battle For Skandia, Tug tries to tell Halt and Horace that Will and Cassandra are nearby, letting out sharp, loud whinneys, but Halt doesn't understand until he spots Will who is about to be shot by a Temujai warrior. Halt then shoots the archer before he can kill Will. Tug is delighted to see Will again and refuses to leave his side for some time. The Sorcerer in the North Tug and Will are the first characters to appear in this book and are travelling to Seacliff Fief. They take a small ferry across the river to the island and the man in charge of the boat is wary of them, particularly when Will starts talking to Tug. The ferrymen explains to Will the man John Buttle, and explains the reason why the dog was hurt. Tug gets along quite well with Shadow and the two make a good team. They later travel together to Castle Macindaw in Norgate Fief. Erak's Ransom In the 7th book, Erak's Ransom, Tug goes with Will, Horace, Halt and Gilan to Arridi where he is lost in a sandstorm and found by a tribe of nomads called the Bedullin. They say that the rule of the desert is that whoever releases the horse, loses control over it. Whoever finds and cares for it is the rightful owner. In order to get Tug back, Will races against Tug's new owner. His opponent races on the fastest horse in the Bedullin tribe, named Sandstorm, owned by Umar, the leader of the tribe. Despite Sandstorm's fast speeds, Tug prevails due to his endurance. In the story 'The Wolf ' from 'The Lost Stories ', the new Tug knows about Sandstorm and says I would have beaten Sandstorm' even when the new Tug did not have any prior knowledge of this event happenning. The Kings of Clonmel Will travels on Tug to Hibernia along with Halt and Horace. The Lost Stories Tug appears several of the Lost Stories tales: ''The Roamers, Purple Prose ''and ''the Wolf. The Wolf In The Wolf (a novella featured in The Lost Stories) Tug is injured in an ambush by a wolf. Will shoots the wolf, but it turns out that Tug is seriously injured. He is healed as best as possible by Old Bob, but it turns out that he will always limp. Therefore, Tug retires and gains the name of Bellerophon (by his own choosing). After much grief, Will takes a new Tug as his Ranger horse. Description Tug is described as being small and stocky with a barrel-like chest. He is often describeed as being rather shaggy. Despite his small size he is incredibly fast, outpacing all the other horses in the Ranger Corps, maybe not in short races, but long-distance he excells. He is grey in colour, affectionate, clever and has a love of apples, and often disagrees with Halt on how many he is allowed. Tug is the fastest horse in the series so far, in long distance and one of the fastest in sprints. And like all Rangers, Will often talks to Tug, understandable, as Tug seems to understand every word Will says. Also, noted many times in the series, Tug has been noted to "Come as close to raising an eyebrow as a horse could. "Will reckoned that there was no upper limit for Tug's speed, he'd just go as fast as the occasion needed. Realtionships '''Will Tug and Will are very close, as are all Rangers and their horses. They share a deep bond, strengthened by their many adventures. Will loves to take care of his horse and one of his primary instincts is to make sure he is taken care of and in turn Tug often calls him a "worry-wart" ''which can be true in some cases. Tug dislikes watching Will go into danger without him. 'Halt' ' Tug likes Halt and the two generally get along well apart from disagreeing on the amount of apples a horse should be given. 'Abelard ' Tug is good friends with Halt's horse as the two have spent many years together whilst Will was training to be a ranger under Halt's guidance '''Ebony ' W'hen Will gets a new dog in Halt's Peril Tug is tolerant of the little creature and acts a little aloof but the two soon get to know each other and become good friends. Trivia *Tug's name, Bellerophon, is also the name of the Greek hero who tamed the Pegasus. Category:Horses Category:The Ruins of Gorlan characters Category:The Burning Bridge characters Category:The Icebound Land characters Category:The Battle for Skandia characters Category:The Siege of Macindaw Characters Category:Erak's Ransom characters Category:The Kings of Clonmel characters Category:The Sorcerer in the North characters Category:Protagonists Category:Animals Category:The Lost Stories Characters Category:Halt's Peril characters Category:The Roamers Characters Category:Purple Prose Charactes Category:The Wolf Characters Category:Ranger Horses Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Articles needing Improvement Category:Main Characters